The Leviathan

It’s the 22nd century, on a mysterious planet where giant alien beasts are harvested for their biological material, where mankind is conscripted to brave the air-flows on futuristic sky-craft, and where sometimes, for all the technology and science available to us, we are completely outmatched by monsters in the deep…

The concept seems familiar: readers of Arthur C. Clarke will recognize the dramatic skyscapes of the Jupiter explorations from A Meeting with Medusa; PC gamers will recall the beautiful, mechanistic detail of the gorgeously conceived Homeworld game series. The mention of human conscription among the stars denotes a darker edge to the imagined future, and the utilitarian yellow and black construction of the cloud-skimming vessels indicates our species in the infancy of space exploration. This is without doubt cool as hell.

As for the creative elements behind this sumptuous proof-of-concept, Academy Award nominated Ruairi Robinson is somewhat of a big and small screen heavy-weight. Writer and director of the excellently creepy AI robot-butler short Blinky (i.e. what Blomkamp’s Chappie could have been) as well as the dystopian war flick Silent City, Robinson has also directed the big screen Martian sci-fi piece The Last Days on Earth starring Liev Schreiber, which despite being a box-office flop (unapologetically described by one critic as ‘as cinematically barren as the titular planet.’ – ouch) certainly drew attention to his otherwise fantastic work.

TheLeviathan is exquisitely designed andripe for development, and thankfully Twentieth Century Fox agrees. In May of last year it was announced that The Leviathan had been picked up for some big screen treatment and had pulled in impressive name talent to help create it. As well as the previously mentioned Neill Blomkamp as executive producer (director of District 9 and the upcoming Alien film), the movie will also be graced by the talents of Simon Kinberg as producer (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and screenwriter Jim Uhls (Fight Club).

Little else has been said since the initial announcement, but I don’t think it will be long before the internet is all-a-flutter with oodles of details on the development of this exciting sci-fi production.

Looking for something fun to watch? Enjoy weird and wonderful short films? Check out other Pandora Cinematheque short films and reviews here!